XeroK00L

So the IS-F sold 323. How does it compare to the sales target and/or quota for the US? And how does it compare to its competition. Anyone knows?

rominl

iTrader: (4)

true, the LX probably comes out at a pretty bad time. but i think lexus is controlling the supply pretty smartly. i was talking to my lexus sales guy and he said the LX is sooooo limited and so rare, even some sales haven't gotten to see or sit in the car yet.

at least at that dealership they still have a pretty long waiting list to fulfill

i didn't pay much attention to previous months' sales, but looking at the last month, seems like the economy is in a pretty bad shape huh

LexFather

2500 units a month is not niche, that is 30k units a year. The TSX sells a little over that amount.

Niche would be a target 10k or under. The Acura Rl initally had a target of 20k units, that is not a niche, that is a good size chunk.

Sorry Bob its not. The ES still sold very well and its a down market. If sales got to 2k units or just PLUMMETED, then I would say something is amiss.

LexFather

Luxury Car Sales (March 2008)

Brand

1. Lexus - 24,939
2. BMW - 23,115
3. Mercedes-Benz - 20,808
4. Cadillac - 17,453
5. Infiniti - 13,821 (outsold Acura for the first time in history)
6. Acura - 13,288
7. Lincoln - 10,913
8. Volvo - 9,263
9. Audi - 7,987 (disappointing, should be at least 10k a month)
10. Land Rover - 3,054
11. Saab - 2,962
12. Porsche - 2,467
13. Jaguar - 1,752 (yikes)

Entry
1. 3 - 11,226 (coupe/sedan/covert/M, jumped back over 10k units)
2. G35/37 - 8,269 (coupe/sedan, selling well for the brand)
3. C class - 6,713 (redesign doing very well)
4. CTS - 6,045 (GM doing big things!!!)
5. ES - 6,019 (dipped some)
6. IS - 4,798 (holding steady for Lexus)
7. TL - 4,269 (IMO, still selling very well for an older car and a questionable refresh)
8. A4 - 4,061 (I wonder if we add A5 how much the total is)
*A5/S5 - 464(not added in total)
*Total= 4,525
9. MKZ - 3,501 (solid amount)
10. TSX - 2,280 (not this class but I copied and pasted)
11. 9-3 - 2,133 (ditto)
12. S40 - 1,528 (ditto)
13. S60 - 1,243
14. X-Type - 46 (about to kick the bucket)

Mid
1. 5 - 3,667 (everyone down, 5 still leading)
2. E - 3,039 (not bad for such an expensive car)
3. M - 1,753 (still in incredible feat for the brand, beating Lexus here)
4. GS - 1,668 (sales will only continue to dwindle, IMO)
5. S80 - 1,629 (GOOD SHOW!!! New redesign is selling)
6. STS - 1,486 (amazing they sold twice as much with rebates)
7. XF - 1,161 (wow, pretty good start)
8. A6 - 898 (sad, so overlooked)
9. RL - 548 (will get worse with the childish, pathetic redesign)
10. 9-5 - 316 (kill Saab)
11. S-Type - 80 (discontinued)

Flagship
1. LS - 2,125 (still a huge lead, the standard in class)
2. S - 1,622 (more variants, more expensive, selling well)
3. 7 - 1,467 (lease deal helping an older car that has aged as well as **** Cheney's heart)
4. A8 - 249 (so sad, so sad a great car)
5. XJ - 218 (even sadder, a great car)

Sub entry level midget useless cute-ute

1. RDX - 1,757
2. X3 - 1,732
3. EX35 - 1,452

XeroK00L

Thanks for the summary, Sick. BMW as a brand sold just 23,115 vehicles for the month, not the 27,404 number you quoted which includes the sales of the MINI.

-J-P-L-

Yup.

The "disappointing" Corolla sales for the month is nothing to be concerned about. Remember, the new Corolla was barely on dealer lots in the beginning of March and are just starting to fill in now. I visited several Toyota dealers and there were barely any Corolla's at all.

LexFather

Thanks, fixed....I cut and pasted it from someone not kind to Lexus

-J-P-L-

Great to see Yaris sales up 83% over last March.

I just wish they would distinguish between the sedan and liftback. They are two totally different cars. I'm very curious to compare the sales of each one.

GFerg

Where the heck did the Volvo S80 come from???!! Looking good for them. I really like this car a lot and Im glad to see it holding its own in this stiff competition. The improvements they made over the previous gen are huge (in terms of quality of materials, features, ergonomics). Plus having 3 engine options and AWD is definitely a bonus.


The new XF is the truth. Saw it at the NY autoshow, and this car and section was PACKED for the first time in a long time!!!

LexFather

I actually ordered a brochure on it and checked it out, lovely car!

GFerg

Dont forget to add the 1-series to that list now.

LexFather

I think I'm going to add a sub sub basement entry level list, 1 series, TSX, 9-3, but then, I might as well throw in Camry, Accord, Taurus, Mercury Sable, etc

GSteg

iTrader: (15)

There is a brand new Volvo S80 at my school and every day that I walk by, I would glance at it. I couldn't believe how nice it was, especially the exterior.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

Couple of observations...

MB sales increases/decrease DON'T take # selling days into account, so they actually had a great month. Toyota for example sold 10 THOUSAND less cars and showed only a 0.2% decline due to counting actual selling days.

There's loads of b.s. in the press releases but this might take the cake: "Sales of the GS 460 luxury sport sedan reported a greater than ten-fold increase as compared to the GS 430 in March 2006." First off, did they mean 2006 or 2007? I saw Porsche made the same mistake. Second, if the GS460 is 10 fold better than the GS430 was a year (2?) ago, both that GS430 must have been selling really badly.

Overall a tough month for car sales but some standouts...

The new MB C-class - wow!

The Lexus LS, ES, IS and RX continue to be great successes. The rest are pretty irrelevant. Personally I like the LS and RX a lot - I think Lexus did a great job. The rest I'm not big on although the LS is impressive. Its sales numbers are low probably more due to supply than demand. The competition for the other models though has gotten a LOT hotter and Lexus needs to step it up.

Really glad to see VW numbers improving. They deserve better... some really great vehicles the public mostly overlooks.

Ford's mainstream sedans (Taurus, Focus, Fusion) held their own or gained, and Edge is a winner. Frankly I wish it had been out when I got my Explorer. It's really nice.

Toyota sold 65.5k Camrys and Corollas while Honda beat that by selling 69k Accords and Civics. I agree with that market sentiment!

Toyota is rapidly screwing up its product line AND its quality but it is blinded by the big sales numbers and ongoing cost reductions. No wonder the stock has done nothing in the past couple of years.

Hyundai's numbers are UP despite less selling days... impressive!

Nissan cars and Infiniti sales up - IMPRESSIVE!

A very difficult time for the car business but never a better time for consumers.

ES350Bob

So, are you saying that Consumer Reports, JD Power, both of which have downgraded Lexus models from past results, do/does not in any way impact consumer decisions to purchase or not since the release of that information?

Here is what I repeatedly told Lexus corporate in October of 06. You cannot run around telling people things like excessive wind noise, engine noise and slipping transmissions are normal because if it continues your quality ratings will go down and then as a result your sales will. How did I predict that would happen in 06?

It is exactly what has happened and it is going to get far worse over the next couple of years before it gets better because perpetuating ratings drop will be the various problems LS460 owners are burdened with, GS AWD owners, 08 ES350 have same problems 07 ES350 did, and you know issues of 07 ES caused a Consumer Reports and JD Power downgrade so it is going to get another hard hit on quality, below average not recommended, and so will LS and GS get quality hits of some degree.